Camille Goes Places

I have worked at a school for about four months, which means I've learned a thing or two about the German school system (or at least the Berlin school system). Inside the classroom, it does not seem so different from what I experienced as a student. Children all around the world are the same. But as an English teaching assistant, I am observing plenty of differences from the U.S. in how the school year and day are organized. The School Day The school that I work at has block scheduling, meaning students have specific classes 1-3 times a week for either 1 hour and 20 minutes or 40 minutes. There is also block scheduling in the U.S., but it's not as common as in Germany. Like most high schools in the U.S., students travel around to different classrooms and different teachers.  With block scheduling, most teachers are only teaching a few classes a day in 1-2 subjects, and many teachers even have a weekly day off. In the U.S., in my high school the vast majority of teachers, especi...

The temperature is below freezing, the air quality is moderate to poor, and the sun sets before 4 pm. But the Christmas bells are kling-a-linging, the children are sing-a-linging, and it IS the most wonderful time of the year. Just two weeks before my annual existential crisis about the coming of a yet another year, I am happy to bring you another blog update about my time abroad. In this post, I'll be sharing some key differences between holiday celebrations in Germany versus in the U.S., as well as about some exciting times in Amsterdam, Netherlands and Barcelona, Spain.  Thanksgiving  I learned in school at some point that Thanksgiving was called "Erntedankfest" in German, but I didn't hear that word once because Thanksgiving is not a holiday in Germany. It's just not where the Mayflower landed. Still, I had not one but two Thanksgiving celebrations, or rather "Friendsgivings." The first one was with three other Americans and the cuisine was chicken, ...

I have decided to visit every graveyard in Berlin. I don't know if anyone has attempted this, but I would like to believe I am one of the few, if not the first. It started with visiting one cemetery on the Day of Open Landmarks, in which guided tours were happening at various historical sites in Germany. One graveyard later, my "spooky season" hobby had transformed into a 10-month goal.  Besides providing a setting for existential rumination, older cemeteries especially spark historical inquiry and discovery. Most structures in Berlin are relatively new, as in the 20th century, though it was founded about 785 years old. However, in traveling outside of Berlin, I've been able to observe medieval graves as well. Furthermore, for this blog post, I thought I would give you a thrilling incomplete history of medieval burial practices.  A THRILLING INCOMPLETE HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL BURIAL PRACTICES 1. Burying the dead, 1000 + years ago. On October 7th, I went to Konstanz, Germa...